When we left Project Hako last, the carbs were in, the fuel system was all set up and we were ready to turn the key and see what happens. Of course when you do this, it’s a good idea to wait until a few friends can come over: one to hold the fire extinguisher, one to juggle the throttle to keep the car running, one to stand on the other side of the engine bay to keep an eye out for fuel leaks, and one last guy standing by with the ambulance on speed-dial.
So that’s what we did.
Fresh from the wire, TORC‘s 13th annual All Toyotafest is now open for registration. If you’ve got an old school ‘Yota (or even a new school one) that needs to be seen to be believed, head on over to their website to pour a 40 (dollars) for the show. Spaces are limited and there will be no registration at the door, so get in early on the action. The event goes down May 3 at Veterans Stadium at Long Beach City College. Scions and Lexi welcome!
Several readers have posted this nugget of awesomeness in our forums now, and with good reason. The Celica you see in the pic above is the end result of the most thorough, intense restoration we’ve ever seen for J-tin. It started life as a Group B rally car that competed in the Hong Kong-Beijing Rally of 1985 – when nearly all of that nation’s billion or so people were still riding bikes – enduring 2500 miles of dings and dents on unpaved terrain. Then it was left to rust for about 20 years.
At that point, most people would have written it off, but not the artisans at Makela Auto Tuning of Finland. By the looks of it, every body panel, seam, floorboard and frame rail was recreated from fresh steel. Metal is like putty to these people. We tried to comprehend the amount of effort and man-hours the restoration must have taken, but only reminded ourselves of grade school when we first learned about the concept of infinity. There’s really no point in even trying to describe it, so just check out their gallery. If a picture’s worth a thousand words, that’s over 300,000 words right there.
The best part is that as of January 2008, these mad Finns
have begun work on a second Hong Kong-Beijing Rally Celica. If possible, this car looks to be in even worse condition that the first one, apparently composed of one part metal and 3 parts rust. This time, they’ve cut the car down to the bare frame and are doing nothing short of rebuilding it from scratch. It’s like the Bionic Woman, but with cars.
When we left things yesterday, the brakes were in good shape but the mastercyl needed rebuilding. The carbs had been sent off for refurbishing, but the setup that the car came with left something to be desired (apart from the fact that the carbs were leaking fuel!).
Say you want a blingy whip but an Escalade just doesn’t cut it in the cargo hauling department. Or perhaps it’s just a few acres short on chrome and a few millilumens short on lighting. What’s a ride pimper to do? Welcome to the Japanese phenomenon of dekotora, short for decoration truck. A new book, called simply Decotora, by photographer Masaru Tatsuki delves into the bright, chromey world of these gaudy customized lorries.
The trend began in northeastern fishing towns, where running near the sea and hauling fish pulled from said sea meant that salt water ate away the trucks faster than a shirtless David Hasselhoff masticating a hamburger. Drivers replaced the easily corroded panels with shiny stainless steel and a movement was born.
The stainless steel panels grew more and more ornate, but the dekatora didn’t hit it big until the 1975 film Torakku Yarou about a hard-driving dekotora pilot on the Tomei Expressway. The look spread like wildfire, getting exponentially garish with each iteration. Eventually, these trucks became show cars in their own right, with their own competitions and culture, which did not involve carrying fish at all. Truly grandiose dekotora even had a full blown love shack in the cargo hold, complete with furniture and chandeliers.
By the 90s, the popularity of the anime Gundam, about giant robots who battle in space, began to influence styling direction. Nowadays, however, a wave of nostalgia has caused the dekotora to return to the roots with retro-inspired machines. We can’t argue with that.
With the rust now dealt with, and the clutch now fixed, attention was turned to the car’s running gear. Translation: are the wheels going to fall off?
Well…I hope not.
Where we left things last week were that I’d sent off the carbs to a specialist for rebuilding, and the wayward clutch was fixed. The carb guru estimated that it might take a week to re-do the Webers, so this left plenty of time for little jobs while the Hako was up on jackstands.
A nod goes out to Auto Otaku once again for yet another great find. Here’s a couple of videos of RB-powered C10s, and while I admit I’d rather have an L28 myself, there’s definitely nothing upsetting about these swaps; especially with the ITBs they’re packing. That sound, oh that sound.
Click through to check ’em out.
A few months ago we did a feature on one of the oddest JDM cars ever. The uber-expensive, very limited edition, handcrafted-in Italy Autech Stelvio. Well…there so happens to be on for sale at the moment on Yahoo Auctions: LINK
One of the ugliest cars ever, and as someone said, quite possibly just a big joke being played by the Italians on Nissan, but (to me anyway) it’s strangely desireable and collectible. If you agree…here’s your chance! I can’t buy it, I just bought the Hakosuka 🙂
This one goes out to all the MkII Supra owners out there. Never say JNC doesn’t love ya. As you know, the second-gen Toyota Celica Supra was known as the Celica XX in Japan, and this commercial for the home market from 1983 contains more 80s cliches than a cocaine overdose on Wall Street. Special effects drawn by a Commodore 64, bluish neon that glows like a Tron nightclub, Grace Jones, and music that can only be described as Depeche Mode and the Pet Shop Boys beating each other to death with their keyboards… it’s all there. And what is up the suggestive placement of the Super Sports Machine’s headlights in the final shot? Double X double entendre, anyone?
Seriously, Hollywood? Were the millions you made peddling dumbed-down versions of Speed Racer and Transformers not enough? You even managed to dumb down Knight Rider, which had the intelligence of a baked potato to begin with. Do you really need another mountain of gold scraped from the treasured memories of our youth to fill the vaults of your McStudio? Please, Hollywood, no more. We’re begging you. For the love of wrinkly mutant babies, just let us hang on to this one unsullied shred of our childhood.
Readers, in case you haven’t heard, the latest casualty in the remake rampage is Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo’s groundbreaking series about a delinquent biker gang in post-WW3 Neo-Tokyo. If Akira was a car, it’d already be a classic, according to most states’ 25-year threshold. But hell, those who’ve seen it know it was a classic on the day it was born.
Publication started in 1982 in Young Magazine, the Japanese manga weekly also responsible reigniting our passion for hachirokus and Fairlady Zs with Initial-D and Wangan Midnight. It was widely acclaimed as one of the best manga of all time. Likewise, the 1988 anime adaptation cost $10 million for its revolutionary artwork, a record sum at the time, and is credited with introducing Japanimation to the western world.
We’ve watched it at least three times and we still don’t fully understand what the heck is going on. All we know is that it takes place in a dystopian 2030, after Tokyo has been destroyed by a nuclear bomb. And it contains layers of subplots involving terrorists, government conspiracies, nightmarish children that look 87 years old, a hallucinotastic trip with creepy anthropomorphic toys, and killer motorcycle chases. In other words, Totally. F’in. Cool.
In fact, the bikes ridden by main characters Kaneda and Tetsuo have become so iconic that fans have created a slew of real-life replicas. If only Akira‘s transformation into live action were to stop there. But no, Warner Brothers is strip-mining this specimen of storytelling perfection and putting Leonardo “King of the World” DiCaprio and some other guy we’ve never heard of in the leading roles. Also, they’re moving the whole setting to Manhattan. At this point, why not just call it something else? Because they want to extinguish our souls, that’s why.
Thanks (we think) to Van for the tip!
If you go to Japan, one of the JDM institutions you need to pay a visit to is Tokyu Hands. Ostensibly it’s a department store, which seems hell bent on stocking pretty much everything: from hardware, to stationery, to toys and clothes, to luggage and much more besides. It’s a chain of very large stores all over Japan.
Where it gets interesting is the “much more besides” stuff they you will find there.
Today we received the most convincing news yet that Toyota is seriously considering a return to its rear wheel drive roots. We thank dear reader Buddy J, who informed us that an unnamed lead project developer at Toyota has contacted Moto Miwa, founder of Club4AG, to ask his readers what they’re looking for in a revived compact sports car. If you haven’t been keeping up with this saga, catch up via this post.
While it’s clear that everyone would like to see a responsive, lightweight, RWD sports coupe, some people want it all. Let’s face it, Toyota will not be able to toss in VVT-i, a 6-speed transmission, LSD and keep the price at a “reasonable” level. In 2008 dollars, a 1985 Corolla GT-S should cost almost $25,000 today.
Frankly, we’d be more than thrilled with a simple, lithe FR sportster that takes styling cues from the AE86 (or first-gen Celica, if it will be badged as such). Weigh in at Club4AG.
If you’re lucky enough to be in Japan on March 1-2, head over to the Nissan Motorsports Exhibition 2008 at the Red Brick Warehouse and Yokohama Marine Disaster Prevention Complex. It’s an annual event Nissan Japan puts on to celebrate all things racing and they typically pull out a good selection of cars both old and new from their collection for display.
This year’s theme is, naturally, all about the Skyline GT-R, as the birthday party continues in full swing. A full range of historic GT-Rs, in both production and racing form, is expected. They’ll even hoon it up a bit in actual race cars, and a Super GT-spec Nissan GT-R will be making demo runs. Other attractions include a “pitwork demo,” Nissan Collection merchandise, and a dedicated kids zone. Gotta start them off early, you know.
UPDATE: Official website for the event now up.
One of the truths about old cars are that classic cars that are in regular use are the best ones to buy. Old cars (even low mileage cars) that have been inactive or stored for a long time often have issues when you try to recommission them for the road again, and my car was no different.
It’s a good thing it was towed to my house, because I don’t think it would have made it from the cargo terminal to my place under its own steam anyway.
Here’s a great piece on Neatorama about how some of the world’s most recognizable automobile brands got their logos.
For instance, Mitsubishi’s logo combined the crests of two families. The diamonds came from the Iwasakis, a former samurai clan to which Mitsubishi founder and Yataro Iwasaki and his well-groomed mustache belonged. Their radial arrangement came from the three leaves of the Tosa Clan, whom Iwasaki was working for when the Meiji Restoration abolished the feudal system. The name of the company itself comes from the Japanese word mitsu, meaning three, and hishi, meaning water chestnut but is used to denote a diamond. Somehow, “triple water chestnut mafia” just doesn’t have the same ring.
Check out the article for logo origins of Mazda and a host of other European and American car companies.
[via Jalopnik]
Ok, where we left the story yesterday was that I’d paid for the car, and J-Spec basically takes it from there. The car was picked up from Red Megaphone, and then towed to the docks at Yokohama…where it would wait….and wait.
Now, by far this was the worst part of the whole process. It had been a lot of fun up until then, but now there would be a long period of waiting.
For those of you reading from other parts of the world, today is President’s Day here in the USA. All hail the the greatest influences on our beloved nation’s history: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and the three day weekend.
What better time could there possibly be to talk about the Nissan President? The “Prezzy,” as it is sometimes called, is Nissan’s top of the line, over the top, top banana luxury sedan model. Nissan debuted it in 1965 to compete with those bastards at Toyota, who had unveiled a V8 version of the Crown a year earlier (that would later become the Century). Nissan priced the President at nearly double what the Toyota cost, when most commoners could barely even afford a three-wheeled Daihatsu, so the only people to buy these ultra-VIP cars were actual VIPs: heads of state, corporate execs, the royal family, and the occasional yakuza boss.
The first generation, chassis code 150, came with a 3.0L straight six in base trim, but no Prime Minister or crime lord wishing to command the full respect of his underlings would be caught dead without the 4.0L V8. In 1973, the first redesign, saw a the body extended and a pointy upright grille installed, the V8 upgraded to a 4.4L unit, and the chassis code changed to 250.
For the next nine years, the only major revision was the addition of mandatory smog equipment, a second clock, and that sign of the changing times, an AM/FM stereo with cassette deck. Welcome to the eighties!
In 1982, Nissan gave it a thorough revamp, with new interior sheetmetal, while upgrading the rear suspension from leaf springs to a four-link, yet the chassis code remained the same.
Then nothing significant happened.
The true second generation finally arrived in 1990, a genuinely complete redesign that, unfortunately, ended up looking exactly like an elongated Infiniti Q45. From then on, the look of the President has always resembled its lesser cousin, which is why the old school ones are much, much cooler.
UPDATE: The pointy grille treatment came in 1973, not 1982 as we originally said. Thanks to Ed from Ratdat, master of all things Datsun, for the correction!
Today, Toyota unveiled the 13th generation Toyota Crown in Japan. It doesn’t look much different from the 12th generation Crown, but it looks a helluva lot different from the first generation Crown from 1955. There aren’t many models in the world that can boast such a long continuous run. Seriously, it’s even outlasted its original marque, Toyopet. Though it’s no longer the king in Toyota’s lineup, having been displaced by Centuries, Celsiors and Lexuses, it remains what it’s always been, a stylish luxury car that is to Tokyo what a pickup truck is to Texas. And most importantly, it’s still RWD. Available engines are all V6s, with sizes ranging from 2.5 to 3.5. Symbolic of our times, a hybrid version is available with the 3.5L motor.
Well, I guess I better tell you guys a little more about the car! And I suppose the best place to start is at the beginning.
It was almost three months ago that I decided to take the plunge and buy a JDM classic. I’d owned JDM imports before (there are plenty of second hand imported JDM cars in Australia) but nothing this old. So on 12th November I send an email to our friends at J-Spec.
